E-bike, trisikad ‘regulations’ in Carbon mulled

Carbon Public Market | CDN Digital File Photo 2021

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Law enforcers and city government executives are mulling to regulate electronic-bikes (e-bikes) and trisikads plying in Carbon Public Market.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said this is to ensure free-flowing traffic at the market.

In a press interview on Tuesday, April 6 2021, Parilla said enforcers both from the police and market authorities from the city government observed that e-bikes and trisikads have contributed to the slow-moving traffic inside the market.

“Most of the e-bikes and trisikads there park anywhere, even on the road. Some even dare to counterflow, and all in all, they contribute to the worsening traffic in Carbon,” said Parilla in Cebuano.

But unlike engine-powered vehicles, the CCPO official said the government cannot issue citation tickets on e-bike and trisikad drivers for not following traffic rules, even in Carbon market’s interior roads.

“This is why we’re recommending to put regulations on e-bikes and trisikads inside the market. We also cannot totally ban their presence there because we know these are being used by people who make a living inside Carbon,” he added.

The police’s suggestions came a day after the Cebu City’s Market Operations Division (MOD) allowed private vehicles to enter the city’s largest wet public market again.

It can be recalled that private vehicles were temporarily prohibited from accessing Carbon during the Holy Week to prevent overcrowding of marketgoers.

Carbon houses over 5,000 vendors.

RELATED STORY: No crowd-gathering in Carbon Market during the Holy Week, exec says

/bmjo